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STATEMENT FROM THE PARTNERSHIP

In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Community Action Partnership is reaffirming the recommended safety measures for the Community Action network provided by Community Action Program Legal Services (CAPLAW), as well as guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The wellbeing of our members and their customers continues to be our paramount concern.

In addition, the Partnership recognizes that any national crisis always hits the families Community Action serves the hardest. We also recognize that local Community Action Agencies will face their own challenges in terms of responding to this crisis. Unlike some organizations that can adapt to staff working remotely or changing their work environment, Community Action can only be effective when we are IN the community, particularly those communities where there are fewer resources to adapt to a rapidly changing environment.

The Partnership is working with the National Partners, State Associations, non-profit leaders, and with local CAA’s to learn how we can respond effectively to the changing environment. We have daily conversations with members across the network about their concerns, their questions and their strategies for continuing our work.

As the situation continues to evolve we will continue to monitor updates accordingly.

NCAP REPORT: FIRST 90 DAYS OF THE PANDEMIC

The first days of the pandemic took a heavy toll on the American healthcare system, economy, and psyche, heightening the strain of the 43 million people already experiencing poverty, and those living paycheck to paycheck. Throughout it all, Community Action has been standing strong, working with partners, supporting communities in creative ways, and making a difference in the lives of struggling families.

During the first 90 days of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, the National Community Action Partnership (NCAP) collected stories from across the country that show how CAAs adapted and grew during the initial days of the crisis.

Read the Report

GUIDANCE AND RESOURCES
COVID Response Story Templates
  • COVID-19 Response Story Templates: NCAP has partnered with Strategic America to produce a series of Community Action COVID-19 response story templates for CAAs to use in promoting their work during the pandemic. We have both ready-to-go and customizable design materials for one-pager documents, social media graphics, and e-mail templates.
First 90 Days of the Pandemic (NCAP Report)
Other Reports from the Community Action Network
National Partner Resources

Community Action Partnership

CAPLAW

National Head Start Association

•  Resources to Support Head Start Children and Families (Posted March 16)

Testing and Contact Tracing
Key documents for background on contact tracing:
Guidance on CSBG
  • CSBG IM 2020-157 Immediate Guidance on COVID-19 Response (Issued April 13)
  • CSBG Dear Colleague Letter (Issued March 31): This Dear Colleague Letter covers ACF administrative flexibilities for grantees affected by COVID-19.
  • CSBG Dear Collegue Letter (Issued March 12): The Office of Community Services has released a Dear Colleague Letter to the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Network providing a roundup of coronavirus-related information on funding and guidance released by various divisions within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). We encourage you to explore these resources as necessary to respond to the situation in your communities.
Guidance on WAP & LIHEAP

Letters to Governors Seeking Action on Utility Protections

• Letter to Governor — Re Need for Moratorium, Revised C&C Procedures (Issued May 14): This letter is directed to governors in states where neither the governor nor the public utilities commission has taken specific action to halt utility shut offs. This letter asks the governor to order, through the governor’s authority under your state’s emergency powers statute, all utility service providers, both regulated and unregulated, to: 1) Reconnect customers previously disconnected due to inability to pay; 2) Halt all shut offs of both regulated and unregulated utility service, including electric, gas, water, sewer and telecommunications services; 3) Revise credit and collections procedures so that customers aren’t faced with disconnection due to unaffordable bills once emergency orders are lifted, with specific directives on what needs to change.
• Letter to Governor — Re Unregulated Utilities C&C Revisions (Issued May 14): This letter is for states whose governors or PUC commissions have already halted disconnections for investor-owned, regulated utilities. This letter asks the governor to order, through the governor’s authority under your state’s emergency powers statute, all utilitiy service providers, both regulated and unregulated, to: 1) Reconnect customers previously disconnected due to inability to pay; 2) Halt all shut offs of unregulated utility service, including electric, gas, water, sewer and telecommunications services; 3) Revise credit and collections procedures so that customers aren’t faced with disconnection due to unaffordable bills once emergency orders are lifted, with specific directives on what needs to change.

Other Federal Guidance

Office of Head Start

Corporation for National and Community Service

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

U.S. Department of Agriculture

•  FNS Program Guidance on Human Pandemic Response (March 16): Important guidance related to FNS nutrition assistance programs.
Centers for Disease Control
World Health Organization
  • Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Posted March 9): Information & guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding the current outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
  • Coronavirus Questions & Answers (Issued March 9): Answers to frequently asked questions about COVID-19.
  • Coronavirus Situation Dashboard (Posted March 9): The latest data on the confirmed number and whereabouts of COVID-19 cases throughout the world.
Legislation & Policy

Phase 1 – The Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act

Phase 2 – The Families First Coronavirus Response Act

Phase 3 – The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act

Phase 3.5 – Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act

Phase 4 – COVID Relief Provisions in the FY21 Consolidated Appropriations Act

Phase V – The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
Nonprofits & Coronavirus

American Public Human Services Association

Internal Revenue Service & Paid Leave Resources

•  Non-Filers: Enter Payment Information Here (Posted April 13): This IRS portal allows non-filers to enter their direct deposit information in order to avoid the need for paper checks.
•  COVID-19, Paid Leave, and Unemployment Flow Chart (Posted April 13)
•  IRS Issues Guidance on Claiming Credit for Paid Leave (Issued April 1)
•  Coronavirus and Paid Leave (March 30): The latest information about the availability of paid family and medical leave.
•  Coronavirus Paid Family & Medical Leave (PFML) Toolkit (March 30): This toolkit contains sample language and images related to coronavirus and PFML.

Remote Work Resources
Advocacy Resources
Hope & Healing Page

Community Action Hope & Healing Page: In light of the widespread impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we know it’s as important now as ever that we continue to embody the spirit of hope for our customers and colleagues. With this in mind, we wanted to provide a space for folks throughout the Community Action Network to share sentiments of hope and healing as well as recognize and honor colleagues who have passed or been affected.

Click here for the Community Action Hope and Healing Page.
Racial Equity
Analyzing Systemic Racism

Resources from the Partnership

Applying A Racial Equity Lens to the Whole Family Approach

We know from a growing body of research that engaging clients in a whole family approach creates better outcomes for parents and their children. Yet despite increased efforts in this work, families of color continue to face particular structural and institutional barriers to opportunity and well-being. Watch this webinar to learn more about the impacts of a whole family approach and how this approach can serve as a promising practice for moving our communities of color closer to wellbeing.

Cultural Humility and Health Equity

 

Conducting An Organizational Equity Assessment

Resources from the Partnership

 
Bridging to Equity: Developing a Community Approach to Racial Equity

The Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County, Inc. (CAB) shares their Community Action Plan process fueled by their agency values, highlighting both needs and assets of the community while creating their local poverty snapshot. This board-led process, based on a commitment to engage with those who normally “don’t come to the microphone” as part of town hall meetings, allowed for the agency to learn and listen deeper through Listening Circles and Pop Up Poverty Conversations. CAB shares how they engaged with community, how they prepared for the process, what was highlighted in their Community Action Plan and what they did with what they learned, thus far.

External Resources

 
Advocacy and Community Engagement
Resources from the Partnership
 
Healing is the Revolution: Why Trauma Work is Equity Work

This webinar features Dr. Denese Shervington who illustrates the effects of structural oppression, societal disfranchisement on communities of color and discusses the importance of trauma-informed care for this population, providing insight on how community-based organizations can work to help create steps and opportunity for healing on the individual, family, and community level.
 
External Resources
 
Trauma Informed Care
Implementing Trauma-Informed Practices with Clients

Resources from the Partnership

Understanding Trauma and Its Impact on Families in Poverty

This webinar will define acute, chronic and complex (toxic), historical secondary trauma; describe impact of trauma, in the context of poverty, on the family and organizational systems; and encourage participants to build their knowledge and skills to recognize the effects of trauma on children, families and staff to design family centered, trauma-specific interventions that strengthen the family and the organization’s ability to adapt, cope and heal.
 
Conducting an Assessment to Become a Trauma Informed Organization

Individuals of all ages are exposed to adverse experiences that, if left unaddressed, can lead to toxic stress and affect lifelong health, development and learning. As such, it is of critical importance that agencies within our network are prepared to provide their services and programs in an environment that is safe, stable, and comfortable for both clients and staff. Becoming a Trauma-Informed Community Action Agency means recognizing both that consumers may have many different types of trauma in their lives and that the stress associated with working in human services may impact the staff well-being as well as outcomes of services.

Shifting the Paradigm Why CAP Agencies Should Be Engaging in Trauma Informed Car

Research from various sectors continues to build the case for the pervasive and damaging effects of trauma across the lifespan – but especially on children. With a reach into some of our nation’s most vulnerable populations, it is of critical importance for the Community Action Network to be informed and prepared to address this issue in our efforts to help all Americans achieve wellness and stability. Watch this webinar for an introductory conversation on defining trauma, its impacts, and tools that CAP agencies can use to ensure that a safe and trauma-informed approach in their work.

Anti-Poverty Practice Series: Trauma-Informed Care

This Anti-Poverty Case Study highlights the major lessons learned from the work of the 2015-2017 Trauma-Informed Approaches to Alleviate Poverty LCG. It follows the progress of two Community Action Agencies and one state CSBG Office: Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission, West Central Wisconsin Community Action Agency, and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
 
External Resources

 

Implementing Trauma-Informed Practices with Clients

Resources from the Partnership

Delivering Human Services and Workforce Development Remotel

This webinar focuses on insights on best practices in facilitating human service and workforce development programs in response to COVID-19- both from an organizational perspective on how to support your staff, but also from a people perspective on how to support your customers. In each section, ICF discusses emerging research and creative strategies states are utilizing to adapt to a shifting human services and workforce environment.
Start With Yourself: Tools and Strategies for Coping With Stress and Trauma During the Pandemic

Community Action Agencies all across the country are on the front-lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, providing critical services for your communities in the midst of a life-threatening situation. Being a highly-responsive social service professional in these times can cause a considerable amount of personal stress, and both acute and secondary trauma, while working with our communities experiencing their own long-term and COVID-related traumas. In this webinar, Denese Shervington, MD, MPH leads us in “Start With Yourself,” providing strategies for stress management and self-care tools, and informing the planning for working with traumatized customers and communities.
 
Remote Work Success During COVID-19

Slack. Teams. Zoom. Prior to the social distancing guidance related to COVID-19, these terms were not part of the everyday parlance of human services work. While nearly 5 million Americans were working remotely prior to COVID-19, the essential work of human services was still mostly done in office settings. Faced with the unprecedented shift to remote work, what are the key considerations for human services administrators and what can be learned from the growing work from home trend in other industries?

External Resources

 

Whole Family Approach
Resources for Agencies

Resources from the Partnership

Community Action Economic Mobility Initiative Design Plan

This Community Action Economic Mobility Initiative Design Plan is meant to help your team think through and detail the essential elements of your whole family approach. It is organized by Components – and each Component section asks you to answer a set of questions. Answering all the questions will produce a “picture” of your effort – and a better sense of the work you have ahead of you. As you complete this design plan, you may find there are things you have not yet thought about, or challenges you don’t yet know how to address.

 

Leading Through Innovation with MAHUBE-OTWA Community Action Partnership

Liz Kuoppala, Executive Director of Mahube-Otwa Community Action Partnership, shares her agency’s transformation story as part of the Whole Family Approach Community of Practice.

 

Evaluating Whole Family Approach Pilots: Metropolitan Action Commission 2Gen Evaluation Report

Dr. Cynthia Croom, Executive Director of Metro Action, presents the results of MAC’s three-year 2Gen/Whole Family pilot, which includes participant and stakeholder experiences and outcomes as well as lessons learned by the agency. In addition to the presentation, three Head Start/Early Head Start parents from the last cohort, who are currently working in full-time internship positions, and leaders from two of the partnering agencies discuss their experiences.
Resources for Families

External Resources

COVID-19 Fact Sheet for Grandfamilies and Multigenerational Families (Generations United)

Parent/Caregiver Guide to Helping Families Cope With the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (National Child Traumatic Stress Network)

How to Talk to Your Child About Coronavirus and COVID-19 (Together by St. Jude Child Hospital Network)

Just for kids: A comic exploring the new coronavirus (Minnesota Public Radio)

My Name is Coronavirus: An Explainer for Kids (MindHeart.org)

Free Educational Resources & Fun Activities (Families Together, Inc.)

Supporting Vulnerable Students in Stressful Times: Tips for Parents (National Association of School Psychologists)

Simple Activities for Children and Adolescents (National Child Traumatic Stress Network)

 
 
 
 

NATIONAL PARTNERS

Our National Partners also provide guidance and updates on COVID-19 impact on Community Action Agencies.

NASCSP Resources
CAPLAW Resources
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